Laramie, Wyo. (Feb. 15, 2022) -- In an elite field of 17 collegiate golfers, Wyoming redshirt sophomore
Jimmy Dales shot an impressive even-par round of 71 on the legendary Riviera Country Club Course in Los Angeles and finished in fifth place at the 2022 Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcase.
The Collegiate Showcase portion of the Genesis Invitational gives college golfers a chance to earn a spot into the Genesis Invitational PGA Tour event which will be played later this week on Feb. 17-20 on Riviera Country Club. The winner of this week's Collegiate Showcase was Michael Brennan of Wake Forest University. Brennan fired a five-under par 66 to win by two strokes over RJ Manke of the University of Washington, 68 (-3). David Puig of Arizona State University and Soren Lind of the University of San Francisco tied for third at 69 (-2). Dales and Jacob Cook of the University of Kentucky tied for fifth at 71 (Even). The rest of the field included: Alex Fitzpatrick, Wake Forest, 73 (+2); Cameron Henry, USC, 74 (+3); Andy Lopez, Texas Tech, 74 (+3); Garrett Wood, Kentucky, 74 (+3); Ethan Mangum, William & Mary 75 (+4); Kyle Hogan, Texas Tech, 75 (+4); Mark Power, Wake Forest, 76 (+5); Max Ting, Princeton, 77 (+6); Justin Biwer, Colorado, 78 (+7); Wyatt McGovern, Columbia, 79 (+8); and Lincoln Johnson, Minnesota, 80 (+9).
Dales has enjoyed an outstanding season in 2021-22. He placed in the Top 25 individuals at five of the six tournaments Wyoming played during the 2021 fall season. Dales also led the Cowboys in stroke average in the fall of 2021, averaging 72.28 strokes per round.
This past weekend, Dales helped lead Wyoming to the team championship of the inaugural Wyoming Desert Match Play event in Palm Desert, Calif. The Cowboys defeated No. 1 seed San Francisco in the semifinals by a score of 4-2-0 and won the championship over Boise State by a score of 3-2-1. In the championship match, Dales played in the final pairing of the tournament and sealed the win for the Cowboys as he birdied the final hole of the championship to win his match by one stroke over his Boise State competitor.
The 2022 Genesis Collegiate Showcase featured a diverse field of collegiate programs and its largest to date with 17 competitors. Wyoming made its fourth appearance in the Collegiate Showcase this year. The event was created in 2015 in connection with the TGR Foundation, a Tiger Woods Charity. Wyoming Cowboys who previously competed were: John Murdock and
Dan Starzinski, both in 2019;
Kirby Coe-Kirkham in 2020; and
Bryce Waters in 2021.
In addition to the collegiate competition, a pro-am style event was held in connection with the Collegiate Showcase. Two amateurs representing their schools along with a PGA Tour professional were teamed together in a best-ball, pro-am portion of the Collegiate Showcase. The University of Wyoming team won the best-ball team event a year ago in 2021, earning $50,000 for the school's golf program.
In addition to the $50,000 that is awarded to the university golf program of the winning team, youth throughout Southern California benefit annually through access to the game of golf during the Genesis Invitational, and thousands of local students benefit from participating in STEM education and college-access programs of the TGR Foundation.
Among the collegiate golf programs that have participated in previous Genesis Invitational Collegiate Showcases have been: Arizona, Arizona State, Baylor, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Minnesota, Northwestern, Oklahoma State, Oregon, Pepperdine, San Jose State, Texas, Texas A&M, UCLA, UNLV, USC, Wake Forest, Washington, and Wyoming.
Some of the PGA TOUR Professionals who have played in the Collegiate Showcase Pro-Am include: Paul Casey, Luke Donald, Jim Furyk, Bill Haas, Charley Hoffman, J.B. Holmes, Jordan Spieth, Harold Varner III, and Jhonattan Vegas.
